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THE 



DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 



NEITHER 



DEROGATORY TO GOD, 



DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 

BY 

HENRY A/ BOARDMAN, D.D. 

PASTOR OF THE TENTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OP PUBLICATION. 

NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 



^^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

WILLIAM W. HARDING, 

INQUIRER BUILDING, SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



The Library 
of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



-J 



PREFACE. 



The doctrine of Election is by a large class of 
persons misunderstood, and by another class grossly 
perverted. The popular conceptions of the doc- 
trine are those which have been supplied by its ad- 
versaries; and the objections to which these are 
justly obnoxious, have been somewhat industri- 
ously employed to bring the doctrine itself into 
discredit, and even to discourage inquiry into its 
scriptural authority. From this cause, doubtless, 
the feeling has come to prevail, that the whole 
subject is one which had better be let alone ; and 
that the pulpit should confine itself to topics of a 
less mysterious and more practical nature, But 
surely " all scripture is profitable :" truth is in 
order to holiness : and if Election be taught, and 
very prominently taught in the word of God, it is 
not only our duty to receive it, but the belief of it 
must tend legitimately to promote personal religion 



4 PREFACE. 

and real peace of mind. No one need fear as to 
the tendency of any doctrine of the Bible. It is 
when the sacred truths of revelation have been de- 
formed and caricatured, that they exert an influ- 
ence prejudicial to sound morality, or minister to the 
alarm of timid and doubting Christians. In no 
other way can we explain the state of feeling now 
so common respecting Election — a doctrine so clearly 
and unequivocally taught in the Scriptures, that 
nearly all the Reformed Churches have embraced 
it in their Confessions, and the due " consideration 
of which (as the Church of England says in her 
Articles) is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeak- 
able comfort to godly persons." 

It was with a view of removing misconceptions 
and vindicating the doctrine from the more spe- 
cious of the common objections urged against it, 
that the following discourses were written. This, 
it is hoped, will be kept in mind by those into 
whose hands the book may fall. Had the author 
proposed a formal discussion of the doctrine itself, 
the whole frame-work of the argument would of 
course have been different, and the scriptural proofs 
of Election would have been cited in due form. 



THE 



DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 



NOT 



DEROGATORY TO GOD. 

(5) 



l* 



THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

NOT DEKOGATORY TO GOD. 

"According as he hath chosen us in him before 
the foundation of the world, that we should be 
holy and without blame before him in love ; having 
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by 
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good plea- 
sure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his 
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the 
Beloved." — Ephesians i. 4-6. 

No doctrine of Christianity has more reason 
to complain of the treatment it has received, 
than the doctrine of Election. With many 
persons, the very name is an offence ; they 
will scarcely listen to an exposition of those 
texts of Scripture in which the word occurs. 
It is associated in their minds with all that is 
unjust and vindictive : and the attempt to es- 

7 



8 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

tablish it by argument disturbs their equani- 
mity, if it does not even awaken their resent- 
ment. The unfairness of the course here 
hinted at must be apparent to every candid 
inquirer after truth. The class of persons 
alluded to must surely be aware that our na- 
tural feelings constitute no fit standard for 
testing the truth of a doctrine. As in physi- 
cal science many things have been found to be 
true which were once universally discredited, 
so it may very well happen in theology, the 
first of all sciences, that many doctrines shall 
prove to have a solid foundation in the word 
of God, which are quite at variance with the 
common prepossessions and prejudices of men. 
This remark will apply to the doctrine of the 
Trinity, to regeneration, justification, eternal 
rewards and punishments, and possibly some 
others which are fundamental to the Chris- 
tian scheme. Why may it not apply also to 
the doctrine of Election ? When we remem- 
ber that the relation in which we stand to the 
Deity is that of apostates and condemned 
criminals, there is a palpable incongruity in 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 9 

the idea of leaving the credibility of this doc- 
trine to be determined by the promptings of 
our own hearts, irrespective of the testimony 
of Scripture. 

Another consideration which should abate 
the violent antipathy to this doctrine is, that 
it has not only been embraced and defended 
by many of the wisest and purest men in 
the best days of the Church, but is at this mo- 
ment embodied in the creeds and confessions 
of the great mass of Protestant Christen- 
dom.* This is not said with a view of sus- 
taining, by mere human authority, a doctrine 
which lacks higher support. But something 
is due to the opinions of a large and intelli- 
gent body of men on any subject ; and the 

* As a single specimen, take the following from 
the XVIIth Article of the Church of England— 
" Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose 
of God, whereby (before the foundations of the 
world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his 
counsel, secret to us, to deliver from curse and 
damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ 
out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to 
everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour/' 



10 THE DOCTRINE OE ELECTION 

fact that the doctrine in question has been re- 
ceived by the Christian Church generally, 
must have great weight with every candid per- 
son, in securing for it a respectful and thor- 
ough consideration before it is finally rejected. 

These observations are designed to prepare 
the way for a brief examination of one of the 
popular objections to the doctrine of Election, 
viz. : that it is derogatory to the divine 
character. It is often said that this doc- 
trine, " instead of representing the Deity as 
the indulgent Father of his creatures, makes 
him a tyrant, who has created men merely to 
damn them, and who delights in witnessing 
their eternal sufferings." 

This is a serious allegation, and if it can be 
sustained, the advocates of the doctrine must 
repudiate it with indignation. But let us see 
whether it does not proceed upon a total mis- 
conception of the doctrine ; and whether the 
charge which is here preferred does not, in so 
far as it has any real weight, lie with equal, if 
not greater force, against the systems of those 
who reject it. 



NOT DEROGATORY 'TO GOD. 11 

What, then, is the doctrine of Election ? I 
answer, in brief, it is this : — God has, from 
eternity, out of his mere good pleasure, cho- 
sen in Christ a certain definite portion of our 
lost race unto everlasting glory. The persons 
thus chosen, being fallen in Adam, have been 
redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ : they are 
effectually called unto faith in Christ by his 
Spirit working in due season ; and they are 
justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his 
power through faith unto salvation. The rest 
of mankind, God was pleased, according to 
the unsearchable counsel of his own will, to 
pass by and leave to the just consequences of 
their own sins. 

Now it will be seen at once that the Deity 
was under no obligation to save a single indi- 
vidual of our race. If he was, there is no 
grace in redemption : the death of Christ was 
a debt due to us which he had no right to 
withhold; and those who enter heaven may 
ascribe their salvation, not to the boundless 
mercy of God, but to their own merits. This 
point, however, need not be argued ; since it is 



12 THE DOCTHINE OP ELECTION 

conceded by most professed believers in Chris- 
tianity, Socinians and Pelagians excepted, 
with whom at present I do not contend, that 
the justice of God would have been unim- 
peached had he left our whole race to suffer the 
penal consequences of their rebellion. If 
then justice would have sanctioned the final 
condemnation of the whole race, where is the 
injustice of saving a part ? If a thousand 
subjects are sentenced to die for engaging in a 
traitorous conspiracy against their Prince, is 
he to be charged with tyranny because he sees 
fit to extend his clemency to one half of them 
and pardon them ? Would this afford any 
just ground of complaint to the remainder ? 
Their sentence is not less righteous than it was 
before their companions were liberated ; nor 
is its severity enhanced. They suffer now 
precisely what they would have suffered with- 
out this display of the royal compassion to 
their fellows ; and they and all men must see 
that there is no wrong done in inflicting upon 
them the penalty of the law. So also in the 
case before us. The decree of Election, let 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 13 

it be remembered, finds men sinners : it has 
no agency in making them sinners. This is 
sometimes strangely overlooked. Language 
is frequently used in the discussion of this 
subject, which seems to imply that God has 
by a positive exertion of his prerogative 
brought men into a state of guilt and misery, 
and that having done this, he refuses to extri- 
cate them from it. That he has, for wise and 
holy purposes not revealed to us, permitted 
our race to fall into sin, is most true. Why 
he has done -so, is a question on which many 
volumes haye been written, perhaps to little 
purpose. It is easy to see how the apostasy 
of mankind may be, in some particulars, over- 
ruled for good. The astonishing display of 
the divine perfections, furnished by the work 
of redemption, and the height of glory to 
which the saints will be exalted hereafter, are 
among the great and beneficent results educed 
from the awful catastrophe in which the race 
has been overwhelmed. And we infer from 
the nature of the moral government of God, 

and from some obscure intimations in the 
2 



14 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

Scriptures, that the events which have oc- 
curred in our world will yet have an important 
influence upon every part of his wide empire. 
Still, after all our reasonings and conjectures, 
there is a mystery about the permission of 
evil which is inexplicable to us in our present 
imperfect state. It is an ocean we cannot fa- 
thom. That God foresaw all the consequen- 
ces which were to follow the fall of Adam, 
that he knew it would involve millions. of souls 
in everlasting misery, that he could have pre- 
vented it had he seen fit to exert his power 
for that purpose, but that he actually permitted 
it to take place, are plain facts which must be 
admitted by every humble believer in Christi- 
anity. Beyond the facts we cannot go. Hap- 
pily we are not required to explain them. 
We receive them as facts, on the testimony of 
God : and although we cannot clear them up, 
we bow submissively to the teachings of the 
Spirit, and are satisfied that there is nothing 
in the divine procedure in these transactions 
which is at all at variance with the glorious 
perfections of the Godhead. 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 15 

Now the facts just stated are the same, 
whatever views may be adopted respecting the 
application of the remedy which has been pro- 
vided for the evils of the fall. Men may re- 
ceive or reject the doctrine of Election: the 
fact still remains, that our race have sinned, 
and are therefore under the wrath and curse 
of God. The lost condition of the race is a 
fact independent of Election ; a fact, there- 
fore, which it devolves as much upon the im- 
pugners of that doctrine to explain, as upon 
its friends ; and one which presses with equal 
weight upon their theories. We say, the race 
is in ruins ; and they assent to it. We say, 
further, that God was not bound to provide a 
Saviour for any portion of the race ; and that 
to assert the contrary, is to maintain the prin- 
ciple that whenever a subject commits a crime, 
his sovereign is under obligation, at whatever 
expense or sacrifice, to proffer him a pardon. 
Contemplating the race in its guilt and misery, 
God was pleased to determine that he would 
rescue a certain number from the doom which 
all had incurred. Was this injustice ? Was 



16 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

this tyranny ? Are similar acts on the part 
of earthly kings ever branded with these epi- 
thets ? Are they not rather applauded as acts 
of singular lenity and kindness ? And if an 
example were to occur of a prince who should 
pardon part of a band of conspirators, even 
when, from reasons of state, he must, in order 
to do it, make a sacrifice equivalent to that 
of surrendering an only son to an ignominious 
death ; what would be thought of men who 
should contend that this sublime and affecting 
transaction was only an evidence of his cru- 
elty ! who, instead of extolling his generosity 
and benevolence in pardoning at such a cost a 
portion of the traitors, should only cavil be- 
cause he had not pardoned the whole ! This 
illustration appears to me to present in its true 
light the objection to the doctrine of Election 
which we are considering. So far from being 
an evidence of cruelty, the decree of Election 
is the offspring of pure, ineffable, and eternal 
love. Sovereign love, I grant it is, as every 
thing else is which pertains to the Deity. 
But still it is love. If there be any love in 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 1? 

the gift of God's only-begotten Son to die for 
us, if there be any love in the sufferings and 
death of Christ, if there be any love in res- 
cuing millions and millions of souls from hell, 
and raising them to everlasting glory and feli- 
city, then is Election the fruit of love and not 
of wrath. For Election lies at the founda- 
tion of redemption and all its beneficent re- 
sults : " for whom he did predestinate, (that 
is, whom he " chose in Christ Jesus before the 
foundation of the world, ,, ) them he also 
called, and whom he called, them he also jus- 
tified, and whom he justified, them he also 
glorified. " So far should we be from repudi- 
ating this precious doctrine, or investing it 
with terror, that we ought to cling to it as the 
ground of our hopes, and fly to it in seasons 
of trial as the anchor of our souls. 

Here, in so far as the justice of God is con- 
cerned, the discussion, it is believed, might be 
safely closed. But this doctrine is charged 
with presenting the divine character in a re- 
pulsive aspect, in other particulars, and I must 
2* 



18 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

detain you with a further consideration of the 
subject. 

It is contended that we place needless limi- 
tations to the mercy of God, in representing 
him as restricting his love to a part of the 
race. " Since he is infinitely good (it is 
argued), he must delight in the happiness of 
all his creatures. How then can he select a 
portion of them as the objects of his special 
regard, and leave the rest to perish ? Surely 
it is more 1 honourable to the Deity to suppose 
that he makes no such discrimination among 
them as this doctrine implies, but loves them 
all with an equal love, and employs, in all in- 
stances, the same means for their salvation/' 

These sentiments commend themselves, it is 
readily granted, to the best feelings of our 
hearts, and they seem to present the character 
of God in a very amiable aspect. To sinful 
creatures mercy must always appear a more 
lovely attribute than justice ; and it seems at 
first view to be highly honourable to the Crea- 
tor, to represent him as extending the same 
compassion to each individual of our fallen 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 19 

race. But we are not, on a question of this 
kind, to take counsel of our own feelings. 
Our inquiry is not as to what God might have 
done, nor as to what we should have preferred 
his doing, but as to what he has done. 

The objection affirms the goodness of God. 
On this point there can be no controversy : 
this attribute shines forth from the works of 
nature, and from the pages of revelation, with 
the splendour of a noon-tide sun. But the 
objection farther assumes that because God is 
good, he is bound, by the necessity of his na- 
ture, to do all the good he can to each one of 
his creatures. This inference is false in philo- 
sophy and in fact. It proceeds upon the no- 
tion that the possession of an attribute or 
faculty, involves necessarily the constant ex- 
ercise of it, and that to its full extent. This 
is so palpably erroneous that the mere state- 
ment of it must be sufficient to show its absur- 
dity. The perfections of Jehovah are, it is 
true, in one sense, infinite, but they must be 
limited by each other in their exercise ; other- 
wise there would be a continual conflict in the 



20 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

divine mind ; and the Supreme Being, instead 
of enjoying ineffable happiness, would be 
miserable in himself and most inconsistent in 
his actions. As to the particular attribute 
under consideration, it should be remembered 
that goodness ceases to be goodness unless it 
is directed by wisdom. If we separate it from 
this, we degrade it to the level of a mere in- 
stinct, which, as it would operate without in- 
telligence or design, could excite neither our 
respect nor our gratitude. 

Observe, again, how irreconcilable with ob- 
vious and admitted facts, is the principle on 
which this objection is founded, viz. : the prin- 
ciple that because God is good, he is bound 
to do all he can to preserve his creatures from 
suffering and to make them individually happy. 
I say " individually happy," because both 
reason and Scripture require us to believe 
that he will seek the happiness of the intelli- 
gent universe as a whole, in that way which 
may most effectually promote his own glory. 

However agreeable it might be to our con- 
ceptions of the divine character to suppose 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 21 

that lie would not permit a single one of his 
creatures to suffer, if he could prevent it, we 
perceive at a glance that this sentiment is dis- 
countenanced by the whole history of his dis- 
pensations towards our race. The apostasy 
of our first parents, already adverted to, is 
an illustration in point. Could he not have 
prevented that, had he seen fit to do it ? And 
after permitting it, might he not have arres- 
ted the consequences of it with the guilty pair 
themselves, without allowing the curse to be 
entailed upon the countless generations of 
their posterity ? Look, too, at the varied 
evils under which mankind have been groan- 
ing ever since the fall. Look at the pains and 
sicknesses, the poverty and ignorance, the in- 
justice and oppression, the vices and cruel- 
ties, with which the earth is scourged. Are 
not these things under God's control, and 
might he not remove them if he saw fit to do 
so ? Take another class of facts still more 
to our purpose in this argument, viz. : facts 
which show that he has exercised his sove- 
reignty in relieving a part of the race from 



22 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

the effects of the apostasy. There was a 
wide difference in the characters even of 
Adam's two sons : one of them was, by a di- 
vine influence, made a believer, the other was 
left an unbeliever ; one was adopted as a child 
of God, the other remained a child of the 
devil. In the same sovereign manner, God 
became the friend and protector of Noah and 
his family, and destroyed all the other fami- 
lies of the earth with a flood. He revealed 
the true religion to Abraham and a portion 
of his descendants, and left the rest of the 
nations to idolatry and the terrible retribution 
he has denounced against it. Under the 
Christian dispensation he has given the gospel 
to some countries and withheld it from others, 
and in not a few instances he has withdrawn 
it from lands which once possessed it. Nay, 
he has distributed his favours among the in- 
habitants of the same land and within the 
same community, with the like inequality — 
some individuals being placed in situations 
highly favourable to their spiritual welfare, 
and others in circumstances so hostile to reli- 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 23 

gion that their salvation would be little short 
of a miracle. 

Now in reference to these and other similar 
facts, we are presented with a single alterna- 
tive. We must either maintain that these 
events are not under the control of God, and 
that he could not alter them if he would ; or 
we must admit that he does, for wise purposes, 
permit his creatures to suffer, and that he ex- 
ercises his sovereignty in making a difference 
between them. The former branch of this al- 
ternative will not be taken by any one who 
has a proper veneration for the Deity ; and I 
shall therefore waste no time in considering 
it. The only specious way in which the force 
of the latter part of it can be evaded, is by 
alleging that the difference made by Jehovah 
among his creatures, is a difference in their 
temporal circumstances merely, not in their 
spiritual and eternal state. 

It is obvious to remark in reply, that the 
principle involved is the same, whether the di- 
versity created among them, pertains to the 
present or the future life : if it would be in- 



24 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

compatible with the divine perfections to 
sanction it in the one case, it must be equally 
so in the other. But, waiving this, who does 
not see that the plea has no foundation in 
fact ? It is not true that the diversified allot- 
ments which are assigned to our race in this 
world, are restricted in their influence to the 
present life. It is too manifest to admit of 
a question, that in appointing the temporal 
condition of men, with all its attendant cir- 
cumstances, God does, to a great extent, de- 
cide their eternal destiny. There is, for ex- 
ample, a moral certainty that the individuals 
who are born in the heart of Asia or Africa, 
will perish in their sins ; — the doom de- 
nounced against all idolators, shuts us up to 
this conviction. Can it be said that in so or- 
dering events as to insure their birth in the 
midst of pagan superstitions, the Creator has 
determined nothing in regard to their pros- 
pects for eternity ? And as to Christian 
lands, does he determine nothing as to the fu- 
ture life in giving to some individuals, pious 
parents, a religious education, free access to 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 25 

all the means of grace, and a circle of friends 
whose example and counsels are adapted to 
lead them into the way of salvation ; while 
others, the children of vicious parents, are left 
to grow up in ignorance of the God who made 
them, daily exposed to all the enticements of 
intemperance and debauchery, and without a 
single friend to admonish them of their dan- 
ger and to care for their souls ? Surely these 
familiar facts are sufficient to show, that while 
God is merciful and kind, he claims the right 
to dispose of his creatures in that way which 
may best promote the great ends of his gov- 
ernment ; and none are permitted to " stay 
his hand or say unto him, What doest thou ?" 
We need not, however, rest here. There 
are other facts which deserve the attention of 
those who, from the most amiable motives, are 
so prompt in repelling as a slander upon the 
Almighty, the idea that he can elect one por- 
tion of our race to salvation and leave the rest 
to perish. How, on the principles assumed 
by these persons, is the providence of God 
towards the angels to be explained ? Here 
3 



26 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

there is no room for conjecture. It is a fact 
recorded by inspired men, that a part of the 
angelic throng have rebelled against God, and 
that he has sent them down to hell, to suffer 
eternal torment and despair. How is this to 
be reconciled to the divine goodness, by those 
who denounce the doctrine of Election with 
so much vehemence, in its application to the 
human family ? Was there no Election here ? 
If not, why are the " elect angels" steadfast in 
holiness, while their fellows, once as glorious 
in purity and intelligence as they, are writh- 
ing amidst " the fire that is not quenched ?" 
Is it said, that the lost spirits are only suffer- 
ing the punishment due their crimes ? This 
is true : but the question still recurs, why 
were they permitted to rebel ? Why did not 
the same hand which had previously held them 
up, and which still upholds their companions, 
defend them from that fatal temptation by 
which they were overcome, and for yielding to 
which they were hurled as lightning from hea- 
ven ? I do not ask these questions expecting 
them to be answered. For, setting aside the 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 27 

impious answer of those modern theologians 
who say that Grod could not prevent their apos- 
tasy, no solution of the mystery can be given : 
we can only resolve it, as all sincere and hum- 
ble Christians are accustomed to do, into the 
sovereign pleasure of God, and say, " Even 
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy 
sight/ ' But the questions are designed to 
show that no argument can be drawn from the 
goodness of the Deity, to disprove the doc- 
trine of Election. We bring forw T ard the 
acknowledged fact, that in the case of an 
order of creatures every way more exalted 
than our own, God has displayed his sover- 
eignty in allowing some of them to fall, to 
rise no more, while he has confirmed the re- 
mainder in holiness and happiness. Inexpli- 
cable as this procedure appears to us, we do not 
allow it to affect in the least degree our notions 
of the goodness of God. Our confidence in his 
rectitude, his benevolence, and his mercy, can- 
not be shaken even by the weeping and wailing 
which resound through the gloomy prison of 
those once pure and blessed beings. Why 



28 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

then is it to be deemed a thing incredible that 
the all-wise Creator should pursue a similar 
course towards ourselves ? How can it be in- 
compatible with his goodness to do with our 
race, as we know he has done with the angels ? 
And with what reason can it be alleged that 
the decree of Election makes Him a " tyrant," 
when applied to us, although it involves no 
impeachment of his justice or goodness when 
applied to them ? Consistency would seem to 
require that those who brand the doctrine with 
so many hard names in the one case, should 
not shrink from the responsibility of charac- 
terizing it in the same way in the other also. 
But there is still another fact to be present- 
ed, of no small weight in this discussion. 
Is it not sometimes overlooked, in the strong 
prejudice which is felt against this doctrine, 
that a very large portion of mankind do actu- 
ally perish ? Whether there be or be not such 
a thing as unconditional Election to everlast- 
ing life — whether the doctrine be embraced 
or rejected — the fact is admitted by all, ex- 
cept Deists and Universalists, that multitudes 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 29 

of our race are lost eternally. We press this 
fact upon those who allege that our doctrine 
is a calumny upon the Deity. We call upon 
them to point out in what respect it is more 
derogatory to the Deity than their own avowed 
belief that many of the race are finally 
damned. We insist upon their showing that 
a single individual is lost, assuming our view 
of the doctrine of Election, who would not be 
lost if the doctrine wero expunged from the 
book of God's purposes. In other words, we 
require them to prove that Election adds a 
solitary sinner to the number of them that 
perish. We utterly deny that it does this. 
We maintain that no man is made a sinner by 
this decree; and that no man will be con- 
demned to hell for not being elected to salva- 
tion. That it is the non-elect who will be con- 
demned, is most true ; but the ground, the 
meritorious ground of their condemnation, 
will be, not the fact of their non-election, but 
the fact that they are sinners. Under the 
government of a righteous God, nothing but 

sin can be the ground of punishment : and 
3 * 



30 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

non-election is no sin. The only fore-ordi- 
nation of men to perdition, known to the 
Bible or to our Standards, is a fore-ordination 
of the wicked to wrath on account of their 
sins, not, as some would represent, irrespective 
of their sins. The elect are chosen without 
any foresight of their faith or good works, 
solely by the good pleasure of the Almighty : 
the rest of the race are also contemplated by 
Him in their true moral character, that is, as 
sinners and rebels ; and ON the ground of 
their possessing this character, a charac- 
ter, let it be observed, which Election has no 
agency in forming, they are " ordained to dis- 
honour and wrath.' ' In other words, the de- 
cree of Election leaves the wicked where it 
found them. It is simply a " taking out" 
from among them, those who are chosen to 
eternal life ; as we read, Acts xv. 14, in the 
speech of the apostle James at Jerusalem : 
" Simeon hath declared how God, at the first, 
did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a 
people for his name." If none were thus 
" taken out," it is manifest, all would per- 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 31 

isli : so that Election, as has been argued 
in the former part of this discourse, instead 
of increasing the number of the lost, lays the 
sole foundation for the salvation of any por- 
tion of the race. 

Since, then, millions of the race are actu- 
ally lost, and since the decree of Election not 
only has no agency in the destruction of a 
single individual of this number, but secures 
the salvation of a multitude who would other- 
wise perish, we ask in what respect our doc- 
trine is so derogatory to the divine perfec- 
tions ; and we inquire of those who differ from 
us, how they will reconcile to His perfections, 
on their own principles, the perdition of so 
many of their fellow-creatures. Here are the 
two facts : God is infinitely upright, and wise, 
and good ; and yet a large part of our race 
are to be shut up in hell for ever. How are 
these facts to be harmonized ? If we are 
told that the perdition of the wicked does not 
impeach the divine goodness, because He 
would gladly save them if he had the ability 
to do so— -that he has provided a Redeemer, 



32 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

instituted a system of means, and done all 
that he could to bring the whole race to repen- 
tance, but that in multitudes of cases he has 
failed of success, and his creatures have per- 
severed in sin notwithstanding his utmost 
efforts to reclaim them, — if we are told this, 
we have, indeed, an answer to the question, 
and an adequate cause assigned for the des- 
truction of the impenitent. But see what an 
answer ! In order to vindicate the goodness 
of God, he is stripped of his power. The 
free-will of man is made paramount to the 
omnipotence of his Maker. Instead of that 
great and glorious Being who is clothed with 
majesty and strength, who " rideth upon the 
heavens," whose u voice is like the voice of 
many waters,' ' who " hangeth the earth upon 
nothing," and "divideth the sea with his 
power," at whose reproof "the pillars of hea- 
ven tremble and are astonished," and before 
whom seraphs veil their faces : we have pre- 
sented to us a Being, benevolent and amiable 
indeed, but utterly unable to govern his crea- 
tures, and who is obliged to stand by and see 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 33 

them perish in despite of every plan he can 
devise, and every influence he can employ to 
prevent it. Is this the God of the Bible ? 
Is the Lord God Omnipotent really so im- 
becile a sovereign that his subjects can coun- 
tervail his purposes, and defeat plans which 
are identified with his own glory ? And are 
we to be told by those who embrace these un- 
worthy views of the Deity, that " the doctrine 
of Election is derogatory to the divine char- 
acter ?" Does it befit them to rebuke the 
friends of this doctrine, who begin their vin- 
dication of the Almighty by breaking his 
sceptre, and taking off his crown, and pulling 
down the pillars of his throne, and proclaim- 
ing in the face of earth, and heaven, and hell, 
that the creatures he has formed out of the 
dust of his footstool, are independent of his 
control, and that he cannot save them unless 
in the exercise of their free-will they shall 
permit him to do it? We rejoice that we 
know no such divinity as this. Bad as our 
doctrine may be in the judgment of its oppo- 
sers, it at least leaves us a God whom we can 



34 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

respect. Sooner than impugn the glorious 
majesty of the Godhead and degrade him to 
their standard, we would have "the clouds 
and darkness' ' which enwrap his throne, seven 
fold deeper, and the manifestations of his ven- 
geance upon the vessels of wrath, seven fold 
more awful than they are. In reasoning upon 
his goodness we may err, especially when we 
are attempting, rather from the light of na- 
ture than from Scripture, to prescribe what 
his goodness may require him to do for an 
apostate race like our own. But we cannot 
err in ascribing to him absolute sovereignty 
over all the works of his hands. 

We decline, then, the explanation on which 
others choose to rest, of the painful fact that 
millions of our race are actually lost. In our 
view, the fact assumed to explain it, viz. : that 
the Deity, though he desires to the utmost 
their salvation, has no ability to accomplish it, 
would involve, if established, an infinitely 
greater catastrophe to the universe, than the 
perdition of a thousand worlds like this. The 
only alternative which remains to us, is to fall 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 35 

back upon the divine sovereignty. The all- 
wise God, for reasons unrevealed to us, has 
not seen fit to extend his pardoning mercy to 
the whole of the race, and a portion of them 
are left to suffer the just penalty of their sins. 
This solution may not be very flattering to our 
iutellectual pride, nor very satisfactory to our 
curiosity ; but it is the only one which the 
Scriptures furnish, and it must suffice us for 
the present life. Let the reader decide 
whether the difficulties with which the fact 
that so many perish is encumbered, are miti- 
gated or eluded by discarding the doctrine of 
Election ; and whether this doctrine, fairly 
understood, contains any thing so derogatory 
to the Deity, as the theories to which it stands 
opposed. The doctrine does indeed recog- 
nize his sovereignty, and herein it may disturb 
the composure of those who love to think of 
him only as the kind and compassionate 
Father of his creatures. But it is submitted 
to their candour, whether his paternal char- 
acter is the only one in which the Scriptures 
present him to us. Let them turn, for exam- 



6b THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

pie, to the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, 
where they will find it thus written, (vs. 26- 
29,) u For ye see your calling, brethren, how 
that not many wise men after the flesh, not 
many mighty, not many noble are called : but 
God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
world to confound the wise ; and God hath 
chosen the weak things of the world to con- 
found the things which are mighty ; and base 
things of the world, and things which are de- 
spised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which 
are not, to bring to naught things that are : 
that no flesh should glory in his presence.' ' 
And let them read the ninth chapter of Ro- 
mans, and attend especially to this language : 
" I will have mercy on whom I will have 
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I 
will have compassion. So then it is not of 
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but 
of God that showeth mercy. . . He hath 
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom 
he will he hardeneth." Can any impartial 
person fail to see that the Most High challen- 
ges to himself in these passages the loftiest 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 37 

prerogatives of a universal sovereignty ? that 
He asserts his unqualified right to dispense 
his favours, and even to dispose of us, his ra- 
tional creatures, after the counsel of his own 
will ? Let the class of persons whom I now 
address, review again the facts which have 
been cited in this discussion, — the fall of our 
first parents, the endless diversity in the cir- 
cumstances of mankind with respect to their 
spiritual privileges, the various calamities 
which overspread the earth, the apostasy and 
punishment of the angels, and the perdition 
of so many of our race, — and let them say 
whether these facts do not illustrate and con- 
firm the testimony of Scripture, that God is 
as well a sovereign as a father. It avails no- 
thing to avert our eyes from testimony like 
this. It is not to be neutralized by a refusal 
to consider it. And they who will consider 
it, cannot consistently object to the doctrine 
of Election on the ground that it is deroga- 
tory to the divine perfections, because they 
admit the existence of numerous facts, and, 

of course, believe them to be compatible with 
4 



38 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

Ins perfections, which really involve the very 
exercise of sovereignty implied in this doc- 
trine. 

We agree with our brethren who reject the 
doctrine, that it is delightful to think of the 
incomprehensible and adorable Jehovah as our 
Father ; and we have no higher joy than that 
which springs from the hope of being one day 
publicly owned by him as his children. But 
until every vestige of the flood is obliterated, 
and the Dead Sea has ceased to perpetuate 
the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the 
lost angels are brought forth out of prison, 
and hell is annihilated, and the Bible is blotted 
out of existence, we cannot forget that he is 
also a righteous Judge and an almighty 
King. Our sympathies prompt us to weep 
over the eternal destruction of so large a por- 
tion of our fellow-creatures ; and we are ready 
to confess that we are utterly lost in attempt- 
ing to explain the reasons why the race were 
permitted to fall, and why, having determined 
to give his beloved Son to retrieve the dread- 
ful evils of the apostasy, the all-wise and 



NOT DEROGATORY TO GOD. 39 

merciful God was not pleased to extend the 
benefits of redemption to the whole human 
family. But our inability to unfold his secret 
purposes furnishes us with no ground to cavil 
at his dispensations. Nor, unfathomable as 
the transaction is to our feeble faculties, are 
we able to detect in it aught that is " tyran- 
nical" or " unjust." So far from it, we adore 
with gratitude unspeakable, the matchless love 
which, instead of suffering us all to perish, a 
procedure which would have left the justice 
of God untarnished, provided an atoning sac- 
rifice of boundless worth, and brought up 
millions of the race from the confines of hell 
to the fruition of eternal blessedness. The 
character of Jehovah is not the less glorious 
in our eyes, because in every part of this 
stupendous plan, we see it to be " glorious in 
holiness' ' as well as in mercy: nor is his 
throne the less attractive, because in the voice 
which proceeds from it, we find the majesty 
of a God blended with the tenderness of a 
Father. 



THE 



DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 



DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 

(41) 

4* 



THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

NOT DISCOURAGINQ TO MAN. 

"Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, 
Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved/ 7 
— Acts xxvii. 31. 

Of the two principal objections to the doc- 
trine of Election, one has immediate respect 
to God, the other to man. The former, which 
alleges that the doctrine is derogatory to 
God, has been considered : the latter, which 
affirms that it is discouraging to man, I 
propose to examine now. This objection may 
be stated in the following form : — 

" If the individuals to be saved have been 
selected, and their number unchangeably fixed 
by a divine decree, it must be useless for men 
to concern themselves about the question of 

(43) 



44 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

their own salvation. If they are of the num- 
ber of the elect, they will be saved whether 
they exert themselves to this end or not ; if 
they are not, no efforts of their own can be 
of any avail. The omnipotent decree renders 
all human agency superfluous in the one case, 
and fruitless in the other. We have, there- 
fore, but to fold our arms and await the issues 
to which we are severally appointed/ ' 

There are a number of points embraced in 
this objection, but they may be discussed col- 
lectively. I think it can be shown that it 
proceeds upon a serious misconception of the 
doctrine, and that no such consequences as 
are here specified, are fairly chargeable upon 
it. There are various lines of argument by 
which the difficulty might be met. I shall 
meet it by observing, 

First, That Grod has provided an atonement, 
the value of which, in itself considered, is suf- 
ficient for the sins of all mankind. 
\ I speak not now of the purpose of God in 
respect to the application of redemption. The 
Scriptures do certainly teach, that Christ died 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 45 

as the substitute and surety of his own people, 
that is, of the people given him by the Father 
— that he "laid down his life for the sheep" 
— and that his blood shall be applied to all 
those included in the covenant of grace. But 
I speak of the intrinsic worth of his atone- 
ment, when I ascribe to it a value adequate to 
the redemption of all mankind. The proof 
of this lies in the fact, that by reason of the 
union in his person of the divine and human 
natures, an infinite value must attach to his 
sufferings. A very few theologians, adopting 
what has been styled the Grethsemane view of 
the atonement, have maintained that there 
was an exact commercial equivalency between 
his sufferings and the sins of his people, so 
that if there had been one more sinner to be 
redeemed, his sufferings must have been in- 
creased in a corresponding degree. But this 
scheme the great body of Calvinistic divines 
have rejected with abhorrence. They have 
concurred generally in the sentiment, that the 
sufferings of Christ would be sufficient, had it 



46 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

pleased the Father so to extend the benefits 
of redemption, to expiate the sins of every 
individual of our race. I may be allowed to 
quote two eminent authorities on this subject. 
The first is Dr. Owen : " There is a sense in 
which Christ may be said to die for all and 
the whole world. His death was of sufficient 
dignity to have been made a ransom for all 
the sins of every one in the world ; and on 
this internal sufficiency is grounded the uni- 
versality of the gospel offers." * The other 
is the venerable Synod of Dort, which repre- 
sented, two hundred years ago, the whole body 
of Calvinistic churches, (the church of Eng- 
land included :) " The death of the Son of 
God is a single and most perfect sacrifice and 
satisfaction for sins, of infinite value and price, 
abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of 
the whole world." And, again: "Because 
many who are called by the gospel, do not re- 
pent nor believe in Christ, but perish in unbe- 
lief ; this doth not arise from defect or insuf- 

* Display of Arminianism, ch. ix. 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 47 

ficiency of the sacrifice offered by Christ, but 
from their own fault."* 

Secondly. All men are authorized to avail 
themselves of the benefits of this atonement. 

They are offered indiscriminately to all. 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature." " Ho, every one 
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." 
" Whosoever will, let him take of the water 
of life freely." " Look unto me, and be ye 
saved, all the ends of the earth." Here is 
the warrant which every human being has to 
apply to Christ for salvation. And the 
warrant is the same to all, irrespective of 
character or condition. There is no restric- 
tion of the invitation to one part of the race ; 
no exclusion of another part. The man who 
rejects it, has just as good a warrant for 
accepting as the man who does not reject it. 
If confirmation of this were wanting, it might 
be found in the fact that the rejection of Christ 
is made a damning sin. If Christ was not 

* Articles of the Synod of Dort, ch. ii. 



48 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

proposed to men as a Saviour — if his atone- 
ment was not sufficient to expiate their sins, 
and they were not authorized to avail them- 
selves of it, they could not be condemned for 
rejecting him. But what saith the Scripture ? 
" He that believeth and is baptized, shall be 
saved ; he that believeth not, shall be damned.' ' 
It is no sin to be of the number of the non- 
elect. We nowhere read of a sinner's being 
condemned for not having been chosen to 
eternal life. " This is the condemnation, that 
light is come into the world, and men loved 
darkness rather than light, because their deeds 
were evil." The condemnation is that when 
Christ calls, they refuse ; when he stretches 
out his hands, they will not regard — they 
will not come to him that they may have 
life. 

Thirdly. Even this is not all. God has 
not only provided a system of salvation of 
which all men are authorized and commanded 
to avail themselves, he has in many ways 
displayed his tender concern for their spiritual 
welfare. "As I live," he says, "I have no 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 49 

pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn 
ye, turn ye from your evil ways : for why will 
ye die ?" To this solemn asseveration and ap- 
peal, he has added other most convincing evi- 
dences of his regard for our happiness. He 
has given us the Bible, the Sabbath, the 
preaching of the gospel, the ordinances of the 
sanctuary, the privilege of prayer, the min- 
istrations of the Holy Spirit, the mercies and 
the chastisements of his providence ; and by 
all these and other agencies he has hedged up, 
as it were, the way to destruction and made it 
impossible for men (in a Christian land) to 
perish, except they perish wilfully. This 
whole array of means, supplied by his provi- 
dence and grace, attests his paternal concern 
for his creatures, and leaves those who refuse 
to come to the marriage-supper of his Son, 
without the least excuse. 

To these three propositions, which really 
cover the whole ground, the objector will 
probably answer as follows: " Allowing that 

the provision revealed in the gospel is sufficient 
5 



50 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

in itself for the necessities of all men, and 
that all are authorized to embrace it; still, as 
a matter of fact, only the elect will embrace 
it, and unless we know ourselves to be of that 
number, we can have no motive to apply for 
it." On this I remark, 

1. That as the gospel proffers salvation to 
all men, and as it addresses them, not as elect 
or non-elect, but simply as sinners, no sinner 
has any right to assume that he is not embraced 
in the divine purpose of mercy. Whether he 
is or not, is a point which he can learn only 
from the result. To assume either the affir- 
mative or negative of the question, is to be 
guilty of criminal presumption. For what 
right has any creature to challenge to himself 
a knowledge of the secret purposes of God ? 
And what greater infatuation can a man dis- 
play than to regulate his conduct on the most 
important of all subjects, by a pretended 
knowledge of the divine decrees, or a random 
conjecture as to the allotment they assign to 
him ? These decrees are not the rule of our 
duty. We are not held responsible for not 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 51 

conforming to them. We are not bound to 
act with the least reference to them, nor even 
to know what they are. So far from it, we 
cannot by all our searching find them out. 
" Secret things belong unto God : those which 
are revealed belong to us and to our children." 
For complying with the written law, we are 
responsible. If we disobey or neglect that, 
it is at our peril. The word of God shows us 
at once our ruin and our remedy : condemns 
us as sinners, and offers us a Saviour. With 
this, and this alone, w r e have to do. Why 
should we abandon a known for an unknown 
rule ; the standard which God has placed in our 
hands, and on our conformity to which he has 
suspended our salvation, for a standard which 
our faculties can no more discover than they 
can comprehend the divine infinitude, and 
which God has nowhere required us to make 
the guide of our conduct ? 

2. Let it be particularly noted, that while 
the secret purposes of God are effectually con- 
cealed from us, we are perfectly sure that there 
is nothing in the decree of Election which for- 



52 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

bids or prevents men from acceding to the terms 
of the gospel. 

There is a tone of remark sometimes in- 
dulged on this subject, which imports that God 
exerts a positive influence upon the minds of 
a portion of our race, to prevent their accep- 
tance of the gospel offer. But this is certain- 
ly not the case. The contrary is apparent 
from what has been already stated respecting 
the atonement and the universal proclamation 
of mercy. It is a gross imputation upon the 
character of the Deity, to suppose that he 
would offer salvation to men and press it upon 
them in every form of argument and expostu- 
lation, and at the same time secretly restrain 
them from accepting it. It is not denied that 
He may withdraw his Spirit entirely from ob- 
durate and impious sinners, and suffer them, 
as a punishment, to become still more hard- 
ened under the preaching of the gospel. Yet 
even in this case, as there is reason to believe, 
he does but leave them to themselves. The 
rejection of Christ is a sin ; and to allege 
that the divine agency is efficiently put forth 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 53 

to constrain men to reject Christ, is to make 
God the author of sin. But " He cannot be 
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any 
man." If men will not believe and repent — 
if they will not " come to Christ, that they 
may have life" — it is not a divine influence, 
but their own depravity which prevents. This 
is readily admitted by all who have been 
brought to repentance, as it would be also by 
those who are still in their sins, if they would 
carefully examine their own hearts. The im- 
portance of this point will appear more clear- 
ly in connection with my next observation, 
viz. 

3. That the certainty of the result, to the 
eye of Grod, in respect to every individual of 
our race, compromises no ones freedom, and 
furnishes no ground for discouragement, and 
no excuse for unbelief. 

That the result is pre-determined in respect 
to every individual, may be proved both by 
reason and Scripture. A God of infinite wis- 
dom, goodness, power, and holiness, could not 

undertake to govern the universe without a 
5* 



54 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

plan ; and no plan would be complete or ex- 
empt from liability to failure, which did not 
embrace the entire agency of every rational 
being. " Known unto God are all his works 
from the beginning of the world;" for "he 
worketh all things after the counsel of his own 
will." How these two things may consort to- 
gether, the sovereignty of God, working all 
things after the counsel of his own will, and 
the freedom of man, is the great problem 
which has exercised the profoundest minds of 
every age, and which is still as far from being 
solved as ever. After pursuing the investiga- 
tion to a certain point, we come to a chasm 
which the human intellect cannot bridge over. 
That illustrious metaphysician, Mr. Locke, 
expresses himself in the following modest and 
candid manner on this subject : — " If you will 
argue for or against liberty from consequences, 
I will not undertake to answer you. For I own 
freely to you the weakness of my understan- 
ding, that though it be unquestionable that 
there is omnipotence and omniscience in God, 
our Maker, and I cannot have a clearer per- 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN, 55 

ception of any thing than that I am free, yet 
I cannot make freedom in man consistent with 
omnipotence and omniscience in God ; though 
I am as fully persuaded of both, as of any 
truths I most firmly assent to. And therefore 
I have long since given off the consideration 
of that' question, resolving all into this short 
conclusion, That if it be possible for God to 
make a free agent, then man is free, though I 
see not the way of it." Our Confession of 
Faith, while asserting the doctrine of the di- 
vine decrees, rejects the consequences falsely 
charged upon that doctrine, one of which is, 
that it is incompatible with human liberty. 
" God, from all eternity, did, by the most w T ise 
and holy counsel of his own will, freely and 
unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to 
pass ; yet so as thereby neither is God the 
author of sin, nor is violence offered to the 
will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or con- 
tingency of second causes taken away, but 
rather established. " (Chap. iii. 1.) Our 
inability to harmonize the divine sovereignty 
and his fore-ordination of all things, with 



56 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

man's freedom, is no reason for rejecting 
either of these doctrines. We are not re- 
quired to reconcile them ; but since they are 
both propounded to us on adequate evidence, 
we are required to believe them. As re- 
gards our freedom, the appeal may be safely 
made to every man's consciousness. Freedom 
consists essentially in a power to will what, 
at the time and on the whole, appears to us 
best to be chosen. Is not every individual 
conscious that he possesses and is constantly 
exercising this power ? The believer wills to 
take God as his portion, because this appears 
to him his wisest and best course. So he puts 
forth successive volitions to repent of his sins, 
to trust in Christ, to pray, to minister to the 
temporal or spiritual welfare of his fellow- 
creatures, to cast his contributions into the 
treasury of the Lord ; because all these duties 
appear to him to be for the best — he prefers 
doing these things to any thing else. He is 
conscious that he acts with perfect freedom. 
And this is the more observable, because we 
know from Scripture that the agency of the 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 57 

Holy Spirit is concerned in the production of 
all holy volitions and gracious exercises. No 
less conscious is the unbeliever of acting freely 
in refusing to come to Christ. He may, in- 
deed, act counter to his deliberate judgment 
and his general convictions of duty, but he 
does what, at the time, he believes to be the 
best — he acts as he chooses — he " does what 
he likes.' ' You may listen to a sermon on the 
duty of immediate repentance. Your reason 
may be convinced, and your conscience may 
bid you obey the divine command ; and yet, 
as you retire from the sanctuary, you may de- 
cide that you will not now repent, or, which 
is the same thing, that you will hold the sub- 
ject under consideration for the present. 
You may listen here to one of our Saviour's 
gracious invitations, and as his love and mercy 
are unveiled, and the glorious salvation he 
proffers you is described, you may be " almost 
persuaded to be a Christian;" and yet you 
may, on the whole, conclude that another sea- 
son will answer better, and so continue in 
your sins. Now in these and all similar cases, 



58 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

you have the best possible evidence, the evi- 
dence of consciousness, that you are acting 
without constraint — you are doing what you 
choose to do. And this choice, as was proved 
under the last head, cannot be referred to any 
influence which God exerts upon you. He 
does not incline you to make these wrong de- 
cisions — decisions repeated every time you 
come to the sanctuary. So far from it, he 
warns you against it. With mingled severity 
and tenderness, he expostulates with you, and 
bids you choose life and not death. It is not 
He who holds you back when you would follow 
the dictates of your judgment and conscience, 
but those corrupt, perverse appetites and pas- 
sions which blind you to religion and chain 
you to the world. Nothing, therefore, could 
be more unreasonable than to fall back upon 
the unknown purposes of God, as an apology 
for continuing in sin ; or to plead the fact that 
there are such purposes as a ground of dis- 
couragement in seeking your salvation. You 
have an irrefragable answer to all suggestions 
of this kind in your own breast ; for you 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 59 

know that all you do, you do freely. That 
all your volitions should be comprised in God's 
plan, cannot affect your freedom ; they are as 
free as though there were no such plan in ex- 
istence. 

And this leads to another observation on 
this topic. If, as we maintain, God exerts no 
efficient agency in producing the sinful voli- 
tions of men, then the objection under con- 
sideration lies as well against the doctrine of 
the divine foreknowledge as against the doc- 
trine of decrees. The certainty of the result, 
it is alleged, makes all efforts useless. Re- 
serving a further answer to this difficulty until 
we come to the next head, I would observe 
here, that if we admit, as all Christians do, 
simply the foreknowledge of the Deity, we 
concede the pre-certainty of all events to 
Him. He must have known from eternity, 
who would under the renewing influences of 
his Spirit embrace the gospel, and who would 
reject it, and all the circumstances pertaining 
to each particular case. But how can this 
fact interfere with our liberty ? How can it 



60 



THE DOCTRINE OE ELECTION 



modify our conduct? How can it affect in 
any way our duties and responsibilities ? If 
this foreknowledge were ours— if we were cer- 
tain what was to be our future conduct with 
all its consequences— the case would be 
widely altered. But bow can this certainty 
m God's mind influence us ; or with what pro- 
priety can we appeal to it in deciding ques- 
tions of duty ? ° 

There never was a battle fought, the issue 
of which was not as certain to God before as 
after it ? Did this affect the plans or exer- 
tions of the hostile armies ? The battle of 
New-Orleans took place a fortnight after the 
plenipotentiaries of the two powers had signed 
a treaty of peace. This fact was known not 
only to the Supreme Being, but to thousands 
of people in Europe. But did it have any in- 
fluence upon the troops engaged in that con- 
test ? The awful disaster which overwhelmed 
one of our packet-ships near Liverpool a few 
months since, was certainly known to Omni- 
science before it occurred; but had his know- 
ledge any influence upon the persons who em- 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 61 

barked in that vessel ? All that is to occur 
in Europe during the next six months, is known 
to God. He might, if he saw fit, reveal it to 
you. Would your knowledge of it, supposing 
you kept it to yourself, trench upon the lib- 
erty of a single individual there, or modify 
his conduct in the slightest degree ? It seems 
almost puerile to multiply illustrations of this 
point. But men seem to ascribe I know not 
what mysterious and malign influence to the 
fact that their conduct is fore-known to God ; 
and to imagine that they are on this ground 
less free than they would otherwise be in 
respect to their compliance with the terms 
of the gospel. I trust the fallacy of this 
impression has been made apparent to every 
reader : it will be still farther exposed as we 
proceed. 

4. As the decree of election leaves the free- 
dom of man unimpaired, so it not only permits 
but requires the use of means in securing our 
salvation. 

" If I am to be saved, I shall be saved ; 

if I am to be lost, I shall be lost. The issue 
6 



62 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

is settled by a divine decree, and my own ex- 
ertions have nothing to do with it." This is 
a sentiment frequently uttered by men who 
are not disposed to give up their sins and make 
their peace with God. It is sometimes enter- 
tained, also, by persons of a more serious turn, 
who really believe that the doctrine of Elec- 
tion has interposed some new obstacle in the 
way of their salvation, and that it discounte- 
nances all effort on the part of the sinner." 

This objection has already been answered. 
It has been shown that a sufficient provision 
has been made for the wants of the world ; 
that all mankind are authorized and even com- 
manded to avail themselves of it ; and that God 
has manifested his concern for the spiritual 
welfare of our race, in the most unequivocal 
and affecting methods ; that no individual has 
a right to assume that he is of the number of 
the non-elect, or to regulate his conduct in 
any particular by a pretended regard to the 
secret purposes of God ; that there is noth- 
ing in the decree of Election which forbids or 
prevents men from acceding to the terms of 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 63 

the gospel; and that the certainty of the re- 
sult in every case, compromises no one's free- 
dom, and furnishes neither any ground for dis- 
couragement, nor any excuse for unbelief. If 
these things are so, there can be no room 
whatever for the idea that the result must be 
all one, whether we exert ourselves to secure 
our salvation or not — a sentiment which is as 
much in conflict with the whole tenor of the 
Bible, as it is likely to be fatal to those who en- 
tertain it. To show that our doctrine is not 
open to this cavil, let it be noted, 

That the divine decrees embrace not only 
ends but means ; and that both in temporal 
and spiritual things, where an end is decreed, 
the means by which it is to be reached or ac- 
complished are also decreed. 

I speak of ' temporal ' things here, because 
some persons appear to think that the divine 
decrees are restricted to spiritual matters. 
This is so far from being a correct opinion, 
that the Scriptures represent all events, how- 
ever trivial, as being embraced in those decrees. 
Reason teaches the same thing ; for in the 



64 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

great concatenation of causes and effects, 
trifling and important events are so linked to- 
gether, that the omission of the least link 
must have broken the whole chain. If the 
captive Israelites are to be emancipated, and 
a great commonwealth founded, the freest and 
the noblest the world had ever seen, an Egyp- 
tian princess, seeking her own recreation, must 
be brought down to the Nile, just at the place 
and at the time to rescue a Hebrew infant, 
cast upon the stream in an ark of bulrushes. 
If the downfall of Rome is to be averted, the 
decree which ensures it must no less include 
the cackling of the geese on the Capitoline 
Hill. If the American colonies are to become 
an independent and powerful Republic, the de- 
cree which ordains it must no less ordain that 
a colonial mother shall unwittingly reserve her 
beloved son to become the leader of their ar- 
mies and the "Father of his country," byre- 
fusing her assent to his accepting a midship- 
man's warrant already obtained for him in the 
British Navy. Every harvest is included in 
the divine purposes ; but not the reaping with- 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 65 

out the sowing ; — the issue of every voyage, 
but not the gain or loss, without the building 
and fitting out of the ship and all the skill 
and labour demanded by the enterprise. If it 
is decreed that you are to make an advanta- 
geous sale of goods, it is no less decreed that 
you are to go to your warehouse and show 
your customer the goods, and agree with him 
as to the terms. If it is decreed that you are 
to build yourself a house, it is equally decreed 
that you are, in person or by proxy, to pur- 
chase your lot and make the requisite con- 
tracts with the mechanics. If it is decreed 
that your children are to receive a good edu- 
cation, it is no less decreed that you are to 
employ suitable teachers. All this is readily 
admitted. It is only where the salvation of 
the soul is concerned, that men are chargeable 
with the folly and presumption of supposing 
that a divine decree respecting the end, renders 
all use of means on their part nugatory. On 
this subject alone are they disposed to substi- 
tute the secret purposes of Grod for his re- 
vealed will (revealed whether in his word or 
6* 



6Q THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

by his providence), as their rule of duty. On 
other subjects they obey the dictates of that 
common sense which was displayed by the 
companions of the apostle Paul in his ship- 
wreck. After they had been driving about in 
the storm for 'many days/ he said to them, 
" There shall be no loss of any man's life 
among you, but of the ship. For there stood 
by me this night, the angel of God, whose I 
am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, 
thou must be brought before Cesar ; and lo, 
God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. ' ' 
(Acts xxvii. 22-24.) This was certainly, if 
the case could be, an assurance of preserva- 
tion which would have warranted them in dis- 
regarding all means, and trusting solely to the 
divine purpose for deliverance. But when, 
on the ship's striking, the apostle saw some of 
the sailors about getting into the boat to es- 
cape from the vessel, he said to the centurion 
and the soldiers, ' Except these abide in the 
ship, ye cannot be saved/ In other words, 
their deliverance was decreed ; but it was de- 
creed in connection with the requisite means. 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 67 

And believing this, the men remained in the 
ship. Precisely in the same way, salvation is 
decreed, but the decree embraces in every in- 
stance the means by which it is to be effected. 
It is not the mere salvation of a sinner which 
is decreed, but with this, all the agencies which 
lead to it. The divine purpose takes in his 
parentage, birth, residence, education, com- 
panions, business, successes, misfortunes, 
health, sicknesses, religious advantages, and 
all the influences by which his character and 
course of life are shaped and moulded. Men, 
I repeat it, are not simply chosen to salva- 
tion ; they are " chosen to salvation through 
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the 
truth" Faith and repentance are as much a 
part of the decree as salvation. Grod has 
given us his word, the Sabbath, the ministry, 
the privilege of prayer, and other blessings, 
as means of grace — as the appointed channels 
through which he ordinarily bestows salvation. 
These means must be used. The truth must 
be brought into contact with men's minds : it 
must be believed and obeyed. God had 



68 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

" much people' ' in Corinth. How did he save 
them ? By sending Paul to preach to them. 
He had a people in Samaria, and Philip must 
needs go and preach there. He had deter- 
mined to save Cornelius, and Peter must go 
down to Cesarea to tell him and his household 
" all things that were commanded him of God." 
He had a people among us, and he sent them 
the gospel, and they gave heed to it and are 
saved. It was, indeed, decreed that they 
should give heed to it ; but this they did not 
and could not know beforehand. They felt 
that it was their duty to do it, for the divine 
command was too explicit to be mistaken ; and, 
acting as freely as they had ever done in re- 
jecting Christ, they " submitted themselves to 
the righteousness of God," and accepted his 
proffered mercy. 

This is the duty of every individual who is 
yet out of Christ. There is not one of you 
that has not all the warrant and all the encou- 
ragement to repent and believe in Christ, 
which they had, prior to their conversion, who 
actually have repented and believed. It was 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 69 

not the unrevealed decrees of God on winch 
they proceeded, but his written word. The 
same Saviour invites you who invited them : 
the same God commands you ; the same par- 
don is tendered you ; the same heaven and 
hell are set before you. If you are blind, so 
were they. If you are impotent, so were 
they. If you are dead in trespasses and sins, 
so were they. But they called upon God for 
help, and so may you. They besought the 
Holy Spirit to give them light, and strength, 
and life — to deliver them from bondage, work 
repentance in their hearts, and lead them to 
Christ — and so may you. Do you allege that 
God heard their prayers, but you do not know 
that he would hear yours ? They had no more 
assurance on this point, before they tried it, 
than you have — and this, by the way, is as- 
surance enough. Do you urge that the Holy 
Spirit assisted them and did for them all they 
wanted ? You have just as much ground to 
hope that he will assist you, as they had to 
expect his aid. What, then, hinders your sal- 
vation ? " 1 do not know that I am elected" 



TO THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

Do you know that you are to reach your house 
after this service, and do you mean to remain 
here until you have some assurance of it? 
Do you know whether this is to be a lucrative 
or a losing week in your business, and will 
you remain at home until you ascertain ? Did 
you know, the last time you had a serious ill- 
ness, whether you were to recover, and did you 
forego all means until it was revealed to you 
that you were to get well ? Why should you 
use means to prolong your natural life, when 
the period of its duration is unalterably fixed ? 
" His days are determined, the number of his 
months is with thee, thou hast appointed his 
bounds that he cannot pass." Why not say, 
when sick, " If I am to live, I shall live, what- 
ever I leave undone ; and if I am to die, I 
shall die, whatever I may do." The question 
of your salvation is not more irrevocably set- 
tied than is the term of your natural life ; yet 
in this case you will neglect no means to pre- 
serve life ; in that you will plead that there is 
a " decree," and refuse all means. Is this 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 71 

conduct defensible at the bar either of Scrip- 
ture or of reason ? 

What God has decreed concerning us we 
shall not know until we stand before him. 
But this we do know, that he offers us salva- 
tion, and commands all men every where to 
accept of it under penalty of eternal death, 
and that he exerts no influence upon us to pre- 
vent our complying with this mandate. Does 
it become us, in these circumstances, virtually 
to say to the Supreme Being that he has not 
done enough for our salvation — that although 
he sent his only-begotten Son to die for us, 
and offers us an interest in his precious blood 
without money and without price, we will not 
receive him as our Saviour unless he first 
places in our hands the book of life, and lets 
us turn over its leaves to see if our names are 
there ? It might seem as though a bare pos- 
sibility of escaping eternal misery and secur- 
ing a place in heaven, would be sufficient to 
put every one upon the most earnest and un- 
tiring exertions — that nothing would be 
omitted which promised to contribute in the 



72 THE DOCTRINE OE ELECTION 

slightest degree to a result so vitally connected 
with our everlasting well-being. People who 
are in a burning house or a sinking ship, are 
not in the habit of waiting for a revelation 
from heaven to assure them that they shall not 
perish, but eagerly avail themselves of any ex- 
pedients, even the most desperate, which may 
hold out the slightest hope of deliverance. It 
is only where the soul and eternity are con- 
cerned, that men would require God to put 
into their hands a title-deed to paradise as the 
condition on which they will consent to exert 
themselves for their own salvation — as though 
the Creator and not themselves were the 
obliged party in the case. 

Individuals who in this way set both the Bi- 
ble and common sense at defiance, and whose 
conduct in all secular transactions condemns 
their conduct on this subject, certainly have no 
reason to suppose that they are likely to be 
saved. God has authorized no man to expect 
salvation, who will not use the means of grace 
with all diligence and prayer. Salvation is 
bestowed freely ; but it is not usually bestowed 



HOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 73 

without being sought. If it is not worth seek- 
ing, it is not worth having. And for any man 
to allege that a divine decree has precluded 
him from seeking it, or that it is not offered 
him in the Bible in good faith, is simply un- 
true. If he will attend to what passes in his 
own mind when he is listening to the admon- 
itions or invitations of the gospel, he will find 
that the influence which holds him back is an 
influence from within, not from above. Nor 
can he plead in answer to this, the want of 
ability to comply with the divine commands. 
This plea is both impertinent and irreverent, 
unless he has a sincere desire to obey those 
commands, and is actually endeavouring to 
comply with them as far as he can. That re- 
generation is the work of the Holy Spirit, 
and that "no man can come to Christ except 
the Father draw him," is most true. But 
there are some things which every man can 
do towards his own salvation, and which of 
course he is bound to do. He can as well em- 
ploy his powers and faculties upon the sub- 
ject of religion, as upon any other subject. 



74 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

He can study the Scriptures as well as other 
books. He can pray. He can come to the 
sanctuary twice on the Sabbath, and spend 
the rest of the day in profitable reading, re- 
flection, self-examination, and prayer. He 
can ordinarily attend lectures or prayer-meet- 
ings during the week ; he can make conscience 
of putting off his sins ; he can watch against 
his evil tempers ; he can be more circumspect 
in his conduct, more faithful in the perform- 
ance of his duties ; he can avoid scenes and 
associations which are unfavourable to serious- 
ness of mind, and seek those which will foster 
thoughtfulness, and strengthen him in turning 
from sin to holiness. All this, and more than 
this, he can do, and God requires it of him. 
" Search the Scriptures." " Let the wicked 
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, who 
will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for 
he will abundantly pardon." " Ask, and ye 
shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you." Now un- 
less a man is doing these things, unless he is 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 75 

" striving to enter in at the strait gate," can 
lie with any decency allege, as an excuse for 
his impenitence, that he has no ability to com- 
ply with God's commands ? How or when 
does he expect to receive ability ? It is in the 
path of duty that God meets and helps his 
creatures. "Work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling, for it is God who 
worketh in you to will and to do of his good 
pleasure." It is the great incentive and en- 
couragement we have to seek salvation, that 
in the humble and prayerful use of the means 
of grace we may expect to receive help from 
above. " Then shall ye know, if ye follow on 
to know the Lord." If we follow the light 
we have, we shall have more. If we use the 
strength we have, it will be increased. 

Sincere inquirers after the truth, who are 
disposed to do what has now been hinted at — 
who will forego all cavilling and take the word 
of God as their guide — so far from consider- 
ing the doctrine of Election as a ground of 
discouragement, should regard it as a source 
of hope and confidence. Indeed, this is the 



76 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION 

only proper light in which it can be viewed ; 
for this doctrine alone lays a foundation for 
the salvation of any of our race ; if none] 
were chosen to eternal life, none would be 
saved. And those who are chosen, are ordi- 
narily saved in the way or by the process just 
described. They are convinced of the truth 
of Christianity, and made to feel its impor- 
tance : there springs up in their breasts a de- 
sire to "win Christ and be found in him;" 
they are disposed to renounce the world, to 
" put away their sins by repentance and their 
iniquities by turning unto God :" they begin, 
therefore, to seek in earnest an interest in the 
Saviour, by a conscientious and prayerful use 
of the means of grace, until they are at length 
enabled to receive and rest upon Christ as he 
is freely offered them in the gospel. In all 
this, from first to last, although they are con- 
scious, and, from the nature of the human 
mind, can be conscious, only of their own ex- 
ercises, they are under the gentle influences 
of the Holy Spirit. It was He who awakened 
their self-reproaches and their dissatisfaction 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 77 

with the world, who made them willing to re- 
nounce their sins, who disposed them to fre- 
quent the sanctuary, to read the Bible, and 
to address their importunate prayers to God, 
and who constrained them to come as helpless, 
polluted, lost sinners to that " fountain which 
has been opened for sin and for uncleanness." 
As to all, therefore, who are conscious of en- 
tertaining such sentiments as these — all who 
desire to be saved and who are disposed imme- 
diately to seek for salvation in God's appoint- 
ed way — there is every thing in the doctrine 
of Election to animate and encourage them. 

Those, however, who choose to employ 
themselves in cavilling at the truth — who are 
resolved to take the secret purposes of Jeho- 
vah instead of his revealed word, as their rule 
of duty, and to go on in their impenitence, 
heedless of all the love and mercy of the gos- 
pel — would do well to remember that God is 
as well a Sovereign as a Saviour, and that he 
will in the end pour out his indignation " upon 
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." 

" He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, 

7* 



78 THE DOCTRINE OP ELECTION 

and whom he will he hardeneth." Wilful and 
obstinate sinners who refuse to believe the 
plain teachings of his word, who virtually 
charge him with injustice for not saving the 
whole race, and who even presume to plead his 
unrevealed decrees as an apology for their im- 
piety, thus making the Holy One the " minis- 
ter of sin," may be left to harden themselves 
in transgression until they make their perdi- 
tion sure. If there be any of you who are 
treading on this dangerous ground, let me en- 
treat you to fly from it while the door of 
mercy is yet open to you. Rest assured that 
if you perish, you will not have the poor con- 
solation of charging your perdition either to 
the insufficiency of the atonement, or to the 
decree of predestination. You will then see 
that the mercy of God brought salvation to 
your very door, and that with the same right 
and the same encouragement to accept of it 
as any of your fellow-sinners, you thrust it 
from you, and "would not come to Christ that 
you might have life." The consciousness that 
it was your own hand which barred the gates 



NOT DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 79 

of heaven against you, will be the bitterest 
ingredient in your cup of misery : and of all 
the harrowing sounds which will ring in your 
ears in that world of wo, the most agonizing 
will be the sentence, " Thou hast destroyed 

THYSELF !" 

Such is an imperfect exhibition of the Scrip- 
ture doctrine of Election, in respect to the two 
most popular and most serious objections to it. 
I trust it has been shown that this doctrine is 
not derogatory to the divine perfections ; and 
that as regards man, it neither justifies a pre- 
sumptuous self-confidence, nor is adapted to 
discourage the humble and conscientious in- 
quirer after truth. Most of the difficulties 
and perplexities experienced on this subject, 
arise either from a misconception of the doc- 
trine, or from that repugnance to the sover- 
eignty of God which is a main element in our 
natural depravity. Whether the doctrine be 
true or not, is a question to be decided, not 
by our own feelings, nor by creeds and con- 
fessions, but by the Scriptures. Let me re- 



80 THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION. 

spectfully, but earnestly invite you, then, to 
examine your Bibles with diligence, candour, 
and prayer, to ascertain "whether these 
things are so." And if you find that the doc- 
trine of Election is really taught in the word 
of God, let neither the cavils of the sceptical, 
the sneers of the ungodly, nor the ridicule of 
Christian professors who know too little of 
theology to ford even its shallowest brooks, 
prevent you from embracing and clinging to 
it. " For all flesh is as grass, and all the 
glory of man as the flower of grass. The 
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth 
away; but the word of the lord endur- 
eth for ever. And this is the word, which 
by the gospel is preached unto you." 



Jan. 23 1881, 



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